Re: midi sound quality help needed

[Hwaen Ch'uqi]

Greetings Ken,

I do not use a mac; I use linux. However, I have a feeling that the
principle for this is  the same. Timidity reads its settings from a
file called /etc/timidity.cfg, and those settings can be changed.
Whatever soundfont you wish to use, you should be able to download it
and tell timidity.cfg where it is located. I use the freepats.cfg
soundfont. The relevant little paragraph in my timidity.cfg looks like
this:

# By default, try to use the instrument patches from freepats:
source /etc/timidity/freepats.cfg

Any other lines that begin with the word "source" I comment with the
pound sign so that timidity ignores it.

I hope this helps.

Hwaen Ch'uqi


On 9/14/21, Guy Stalnaker <jimmyg521@gmail.com> wrote:
> Ken,
>
> You are SOOOO close :-)
>
> The issue is neither Lilipond nor its midi output. MIDI is simply a
> specification for musical "events" describing pitch, duration, etc. It's
> up to a program that understands MIDI to make actual sound. That is
> typically done via a synthesizer (dedicated synth module, keyboard, or
> other MIDI-capable equipment) or via an application that knows how to
> use a soundfont.
>
> You're getting nice sound with Alda not because Alda is making "better"
> MIDI, but because of the FluidR3 soundfont (which has surprisingly
> decent sounds for many, though not all, of its General Midi sounds).
>
> When I was using a MacBook and LP/Frescobaldi, I used fluidsynth/QSynth
> configured to use the FluidR3 sound font (but this was some time ago, at
> least 7-8 years). On Windows I use CoolSoftVirtualMidiSynth. On Linux
> (my current desktop) I use the fluidsynth/QSynth apps. Both of them are
> configured to use the FluidR3 soundfont.
>
> I *know* that you can configure timidity to use a different soundfont
> than its default (which does indeed suck). In fact, timidity on my
> Kubuntu 20.04 desktop is so configured. But this is by default and
> involves ways that timidity is installed on kubuntu, so it's not easy
> for me to tell you how to do it using this setup. But, I'm fairly
> certain Google will provide you options for getting timidity to use the
> FluidR3 sound font.
>
> See this Google search:
>
> https://www.google.com/search?q=tell+timidity+to+use+alternate+soundfont&newwindow=1&sxsrf=AOaemvKkuOn8r1q2lCX0swD3GgF5Q5AHGg%3A1631650995863&ei=swRBYY6RNJqztQaBhLRw&oq=t&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAMYADIECCMQJzIECCMQJzIECCMQJzIFCAAQkQIyBQgAEJECMgQIABBDMg4ILhCABBCxAxDHARCjAjIECAAQQzIFCAAQgAQyEQguEIAEELEDEIMBEMcBENEDOgcIABBHELADOgcIABCwAxBDOg0ILhCxAxDHARCvARBDOgoIABCxAxCDARBDOgcIABCxAxBDSgQIQRgAUN74EFj_gBFg7pMRaAJwAngAgAGkAYgBwgKSAQMwLjKYAQCgAQHIAQrAAQE&sclient=gws-wiz
>
> I know nothing about GarageBand, however Google can likely help you
> learn if you can configure it to use alternate soundfonts.
>
> Hope this helps.
>
> Guy
>
> P.S. A nice thing about using an app and soundfont YOU specify is that
> you can change the soundfont used. If you've the money you can purchase
> incredibly good soundfonts (if you like) though there are dozens
> available for free. One of my favorite is an English Organ sound font
> with quite good sounds.
>
> On 9/14/21 3:13 PM, Kenneth Wolcott wrote:
>> HI All;
>>
>>    This is really not a Lilypond question, but I'm sure you have some
>> helpful information, as you always do :-)
>>
>>    midi sound quality help needed
>>
>>    I'm on a Mac.
>>
>>    I'm using Lilypond 2.22.0 via MacPorts.
>>
>>    I'm using Garageband as my midi player, with Timidity (from home
>> brew) as an alternative.
>>
>>    I don't do rock music, synthesizers, sound effects, etc.  I do
>> traditional classical music.  I do some pop, and folks music, but in a
>> classical manner...
>>
>>    I'm not asking for a professional live performance output quality
>> from midi, but most often the midi output sounds really bad.
>>
>>    Now here's an interesting twist to the story.
>>
>>    I installed Alda from home brew which is a more rudimentary
>> text-based musical scoring system.  I also installed the suggested
>> alternative soundfont (FluidR3).
>>
>>    The Alda coding is much more rudimentary than what Lilypond offers,
>> so I'm not in any way going to abandon Lilypond!!!
>>
>>    But the sound quality of what comes out of playing the Alda scripts
>> is phenomenal (!) compared to what I get out of GarageBand and/or
>> Timidity.  I've even tried MidiAndMusicXmlPlayer as an alternative
>> midi player.
>>
>>    How do I improve my midi output quality?
>>
>> Thanks in advance for your advice,
>> Ken Wolcott
>>
> --
> --
>
> “Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of
> human existence.”
>
> ― Aristotle
>
>